Marcellus therefore, though he was living in exile and poverty, was living a most happy and a most noble life.
"'One self-approving hour whole worlds outweighs Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas; And more true joy Marcellus exiled feels, Than Caesar with a senate at his heels.' "And as for poverty every one who is not corrupted by the madness of avarice and luxury know that it is no evil.

How little does man need, and how easily can he secure that! As for me, I consider myself as having lost not wealth, but the trouble of looking after it.

Bodily wants are few--warmth and food, nothing more.

May the gods and goddesses confound that gluttony which sweeps the sky, and sea and land for birds, and animals, and fish; which eats to vomit and vomits to eat, and hunts over the whole world for that which after all it cannot even digest! They might satisfy their hunger with little, and they excite it with much.

What harm can poverty inflict on a man who despises such excesses?
Look at the god-like and heroic poverty of our ancestors, and compare the simple glory of a Camillus with the lasting infamy of a luxurious Apicius! Even exile will yield a sufficiency of necessaries, but not even kingdoms are enough for superfluities.